Frequently Asked Questions About Worker Cooperatives | | |
Frequently Asked Questions About Worker Cooperatives | | |
One of the best-kept secrets in this country is the growing economy of worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces. Thousands of people work in them; hundreds of thousands more patronize them. They are a growing and hopeful part of a movement to go not just against but beyond the corporate model of exploitation and abandonment, to create a real economic alternative for people who need good jobs the most. But what are they, exactly? | | |
A cooperative is an entity that is owned by its members: it operates for the benefit of its members and it is controlled by these members. Worker cooperatives are part of a much broader cooperative landscape in the United States and around the world, including agricultural and producer cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, housing cooperatives, and rural electric cooperatives, to name a few other types. The entire cooperative sector in the United States is represented by the National Cooperative Business Association, online at www.ncba.coop. | | |
What is a worker cooperative? | | |
A worker cooperative is a business that is owned and controlled by the people who work in it, the members of the cooperative. The two central characteristics of worker cooperatives are: | | |
(1) workers own the business, and they share the profits. | | |
(2) decision-making is democratic, generally adhering to the principle of one worker, one vote. | | |
What does Worker-Owned mean? | | |
Workers own the business together. They usually invest with a buy-in amount of money when they begin working. At the end of each year, worker-owners are paid a portion of the money the business makes after expenses. In conventional businesses this money is called profit, in co-ops it is called surplus, and it can be distributed based on hours worked, seniority, or other criteria. | | |
What does Worker-Controlled mean? Does everyone decide about everything? | | |
In a worker cooperative, decisions are made democratically, by the people who do the work (usually following the principle of "one worker, one vote") instead of by one person or group people that holds all the power. But that doesn’t mean everyone decides about everything. | | |
